The man behind one of the world's largest technology
companies has been outspoken over the past year about Apple's
tax affairs, defending its tax practices at every opportunity.
However, this has not stopped his company being in the centre
of the biggest state aid case of 2016.

In his sixth year as CEO at Apple, he has had to deal with
the European Commission's decision that Ireland had granted
illegal tax benefits to Apple, which left the company with a
tax bill of €13 billion ($14.5 billion). Over the past few
months, Cook has dismissed criticism that Apple is not paying
its fair share of taxes.

The CEO's initial reaction when confronted with the decision
was to say that it was "total political crap". Later, he
explained that "Apple is the biggest taxpayer in the US, and so
we're not a tax dodger – we pay our share and then
some".

Apple released an official statement after the decision, in
which it claimed that the Commission had launched an effort to
rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws
and upend the international tax system in the process. "The
Commission's case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes,
it's about which government collects the money. It will have a
profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in
Europe."

Cook said he would appeal against the Commission's decision,
and the Irish government decided to back the multinational and
has filed its own appeal.

"It's important for everyone to understand that the
allegation made in the EU is that Ireland gave us a special
deal. Ireland denies that," Cook said. "The structure we have
was applicable to everybody – it wasn't something that
was done unique to Apple. It was their law."